Ironman turns to frozen man

Mike McCluskey kicked a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit, completed an Ironman triathlon with about a year of training and finished an XTERRA triathlon while having a heart attack.

Yesterday, the 57-year-old finally found something he couldn't overcome: the rain and the wind that chilled him and 2,400 competitors in the Ironman Wisconsin. McCluskey packed it in after finishing the 112-mile bike segment, and this morning he had no regrets about that decision.

"I had a good swim and a good bike, then I got into the transition area and started peeling off all these wet clothes and I was shivering. Then I went outside to the Porta-Johns and when I opened that door I just couldn't go out there for another six hours.

"I can handle the cold, but it was the rain that was driving me nuts. I figured, hey, 'I've finished three of these, I don't need to do this one.'

"I don't feel bad about it to tell you the truth," McCluskey said. "I was cold just watching people, and if I had gone out on the run I would have been miserable and freezing cold. I used to work in this kind of weather; I didn't need it."

McCluskey won't be licking his wounds for long. In a few weeks, he'll head out to Lake Tahoe and the XTERRA national championships.

The temperature yesterday would have been just about perfect for an endurance event, but the rain started about 8:30 and just never stopped. Germans Markus Forster and Katja Schumacher handled the tough conditions and their competitors, taking the victories in the men's and women's fields.

Lauren Jensen, a professional and triathlon coach from New Berlin, put herself on the podium for a third straight year, taking third place.

Thomas Brunold was the top Wisconsin finisher on the men's side, taking 6th place overall.